


REDЯUM

by drawhan



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: Français
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24338008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drawhan/pseuds/drawhan
Summary: Sehun, as he thought of himself, has a keen sense when it’s about judging beauty.Luhan just happens to meet all his criteria.Sehun loves when the target he chooses comes to him naturally, without much effort.Luhan just happens to do the exact thing.Or in which Sehun has a name in drug selling, arms trafficking, runs a casino and a bar with strippers, and proves to slowly make Luhan become one of them, his faith wrapped tightly in his big hands.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi, Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay, Lu Han/Oh Sehun
Kudos: 5





	1. Candide

1.

“H-Hi, m-mister—“ the little boy gasped without any reason “C-Can I g-get a-a-a—“ the boy continued a long stutter of the exact same letter ‘a’ for a minute before, with the help of his parents he continued “An Ice cream? I w-want- I want- I want ch-cho-cho-co-cho-”

Sehun was facepalming at the other end of the waiting line in the street. Why don’t you give him his goddamn chocolate ice-cream so that it can be my turn quick? He looked around at the laughing parents and Ice cream seller. Why are y’all cooing, this isn’t even cute, it’s annoying. Fuck, I don’t even like ice cream, this shit stink, Tongtongtae you’re a dead man for bringing me here.

“H-Here’s the-the-the-the-“ 

‘Here’s the money’ why aren’t you even able to say this, you must not even say it, just give him the god damn money and shoo away. 

There are many things Sehun can qualify as beautiful.

A beautiful Glock, a beautiful paycheck, a beautiful number of suits in his closet, a beautiful way to dodge the taxes without much effort and even a beautiful opportunity to be able to increase the chances for his clients to lose in games so he would get more of his already big benefit in the renown casino he belonged and with that adding more to his already infinitely growing wealth. Or even a beautiful opportunity to tell all parents around the world to talk instead of their stuttering child when buying ice cream in the street on a hot day. 

As for the definition of beautiful in a materialistic way of seeing it, his vision stays the same as many individuals, the only thing that differs is that Sehun is more fond of neutral beauties.

If was given to him to choose between an expensive diamond, shining bright, the diamond’s body redefined by professionals, and spotlights all turned to its direction so it would shine even brighter and a rough diamond hidden deep in that of some dirty mines from which nobody would have thought to find such worthy element then Sehun would most definitely choose the second one without hesitation.

It was the same for human nature, Sehun would prefer a hidden creature that didn’t ask for his attention than any other type of obvious beauty.

He just falls in love with the details rather than the whole.

But again it wasn’t because he wasn’t attracted to big apparent beauty that the things he found beautiful aren’t worth the compliment. He wouldn’t assimilate to an object the quality of “beauty” only because; the fact that he wasn’t really keen on abstract art does really prove this shade of him.

What he calls beautiful is a beauty that people would pass upon because they were too blind by other privileged ones. 

He was more the kind to enjoy the way a person let their pencil work on a paper and the way they are focused on their work rather than wait until this person finishes and judge if the final thing is worth the judgment.

Sometimes it just depended on his mood, even if something is beautiful he would be too lazy to spar a glance. 

There were many things Sehun couldn’t explain and one of them right now being the reason why he couldn’t take his eyes off from the little human being in front of him.

A brunet, not too tall — or at least in comparison to Sehun, for the latter got to lower his head to look properly to the head of the thing — from which emanated a really enticing fragrance, a pure one. The boy actually smelt like a baby. He wore casual cloth, a regular tee, and a jean a bit oversized that showed how little framed he was — or just out of fashion? — and... and it was all Sehun could tell because he didn’t know who the brunet was. 

The stranger just happened to be in a line for a stand of ice cream rolls, back-facing Sehun.

It wasn’t really the first time he felt curious about a stranger just at first glance, it occurred rather frequently actually. It was just up to his mood if he would approach them or not and since his mind was practically always focused on shitty aspects as work, the times when the soon to be called tycoon, Oh Sehun, would accost a person that earned his curiosity for their simplicity were few and far between.

Strangely enough, when this occurs, and Sehun actually gets to go along with the person, this encounter would be a worthy one and would make last the connections between Sehun and whoever he met; in other words: it would be the meeting that would change each other life.

The tall man recalled the day he was passing by a regular high school establishment in a scroll down his neighborhood —some years ago before even his business did function properly — and caught sight of a group of adolescents gathered around something. It didn’t take him a century to understand that they were sorting something with an unlucky guy in a not so gentle way.

A tall high schooler in the middle of the group of students was being beaten up, Sehun noted.

Bullying wasn’t something he would qualify as abnormal. Plus he was nothing as near as a good samaritan, far from that he was probably the main actor of many person’s nightmares, but remembering he had a beretta 92 in his pocket — the full-size dusty pistol he chose to take with him only from time to time—, that it would be nice to show those dumbasses what it felt like to be at a disadvantage and since a feeling of mightiness was never something he would refuse, Sehun thought about frightening them a little.

Though, it proved to be difficult to manage any move after he saw the guy, who had an astonishing height and was the one bullied, did stand up, threw his fist in one of the bullies, knocked the guy next to him with his elbow in the process and tried to continue but already had two of the bullies stopping him by each side. The next second the bully who was thrown to the floor stood up and gave back the punch to the bullied young man who was alone against them all. The next move from the tall guy was to slowly direct his head to the bully’s direction before spilling his blood filled saliva, right to the other face.

It wasn’t really something astonishing at first glance but it was in a way entrancing. For Sehun knew better than no one that if a bully had to choose his target it would be an easy one and really not someone that would give the kicks back. 

It did amaze Sehun for a brief moment.

It was in those rare moments when Sehun projected himself into someone else. It, in a way, made him recall the day back when he was still an adolescent — not like he was too old at that time he had probably just passed his twentieth birthday. He looked at the man being bullied as though he was looking at himself. Not because he already was being bullied when young, he can’t recall a single time where someone tried to get close to him unless they had suicidal desires. It was more for the rebellious character of the tall guy or maybe even for the very enormous height. It was both to Sehun’s dismay and incomprehension that he found the scene in front of him really beautiful. Despite that the statement could earn stupor, he still felt it this way.

The bullies continued to beat him since the struggle from the tall guy only proved to enrage them more and after all of them felt exhausted and the tall guy was on the ground they left him behind, seating on the asphalt and panting.

Sehun was really curious.

After all, if those did beat this young man it is not to just unwound their rage — or else they would have chosen an easier target — but because they really wanted to beat him for a specific reason. Maybe an act of revenge? 

Sehun couldn’t know.

And it really tugged on his curiosity.

He searched in his casual clothes anything that would be at use for the lone high-school student like some handkerchiefs and once he found them, Sehun had stepped toward the poor student who used his uniform to wipe the blood from the corner of his lips.

“Here,” said he, only.

He crouched down to be on the same level as the brunet in front of him witnessing the student hesitantly looking up to him.

What Sehun loved too was the first eye contact with someone. It was something so trivial yet have so much intensity held in it that it was hard for him to describe the feeling.

The student then stretched the corner of his lips, smirking, reveals a neat row of blood filled teeth “Nice show?”

Referring to his being beaten as a “show”, the kid was probably a fool.

“Kinda” Sehun found himself smiling back, actually meaning his words. The high-schooler probably had seen the older standing in the middle of the road watching them beating him. The kid seemed like he wouldn’t be taken down mentally even though he was just being taken down physically minutes ago “You don’t seem that affected”

The other shrugged in response whilst blowing the blood out of his nose with the tissues. “It’s not like those fuckers really did something to me”

Sehun hummed in response.

That’s it. Really not a behavior from someone that is used to be bullied.

“And... why did they beat you up just now” Sehun couldn’t find a better way to ask his question than to ask it forward even if it may seem clumsy.

And the other scoffed in response.

“Do I really look like I’ve been taken down..?”

Sehun looked up and down to the miserable state of the young man. “Yeah..?”

“Ok sure” the student held both hands in surrender “Right, they just beat the shit out of me”

The next minute the young man grimaced and Sehun had to take time to inspect his features. A long and straight nose, eyes that recalled him of that of a puppy for the doe eyes shape, a neat row of teeth hidden behind plump lips and a nice defined jawline. Sehun could affirm it: he was beautiful.

“However..” the other murmured and tried to arose from the ground; in vain and not without grimacing from the pain that came right from his ribs. “Ugh, can you help me please?”

Sehun helped him to be on his two feet and stayed by his side so he wouldn’t fall again. 

It was time to test the boy's degree of pride: “Guess you’re maybe a bit too damaged than what you thought”

“I’m not damaged you’re the one holding on me as if I can’t walk”

As Sehun expected: really high.

The memory was still fresh to him, Sehun recalled also helping the boy to get home and passing a friendly evening together since the parents of the student wouldn’t be home. It would seem strange for the student to accept him home even though they just met but the student’s naivety and Sehun’s capacity to look like a perfect image of altruism charity and all that involved humanity never failed to magnet sympathy from other individuals, and he himself was not one to complain about his own influence.

Sehun was a manipulator after all. Playing with words and with his manners would always be his key to win in any playground. The only thing that differs him from a total motherfucker is that it’s not always with a bad intention. It could just quench his curiosity.

That day as he passed a nice evening with the high school kid. Revealing that his name was Chanyeol, the latter had Sehun surprised when he told him about the reason why he was being beaten up hours prior. Actually, all five students who had teamed up to beat him weren’t really friends or didn’t even know each other for the mater they only ended having the same objective: slapping the shit out of Chanyeol. Why? All of them had a sister. Chanyeol just happened to date all of them ladies at once and played with their feelings like a lovely asshole. 

When hearing it, Sehun remembered himself taking a good time laughing like a mad man for how the heck can he just walk into that Chanyeol and found out that the latter had his exact same personality; manipulating, heartless, wicked and fucking sick in the head.

Complimentary to what his instinct had told him about his friendship with Chanyeol and as time passed, Sehun’s fate ended up inter winded with Chanyeol’s as the latter helped him with his business, all the while running another one; Chanyeol as the owner of a cabaret not too far from Sehun’s casino. Their institution being surrounded by love hotels, bars, clubs, brothels, and the likes and having already gained a reputation in town, they were both having a good time seeing their business getting big every day whilst they added a new street for the list of red-light districts of Busan amongst already multiple ones.

He doesn’t just try to befriend people out of the blue and without reason every day, he’s too busy dealing with his business to have enough time for himself. And the time for himself was generally used outside, to appease his mind by meeting with business partners to get more profit.

Now in the waiting line for the ice cream stale, the twenty-five-years-old man was really curious about the little creature in front of him.

He had noticed the little beauty for quite a time, he was just walking toward the first ice cream seller — Tongtongtae had begged him to get him one in the way — and Sehun found it funny that the little beauty who walked in front of him, had the same destination as him.

Since Sehun didn’t have any important work today, he thought of distracting himself by following the man in front of him out of boredom; let be damned the ice cream, Tongtongtae can wait.

He can’t see the whole face but having taken a glimpse of his side profile, he could easily make up from his imagination a good reproduction of what the man in front of him could look like.

Sehun didn’t lack in patience for beautiful things and found himself enjoying looking at the male’s back head: light brunet hair falling in silky and shiny loose curls to his ears, bellow them were smaller in length locks, the whole thing looking like a well made layered hairstyle. What was the most adorable thing about it, is that the man had a little curl of hair resting on the little curve of his alabaster skin on his nape — was probably called Fengfu point, if Sehun had to recall the article about headache’s therapy he had read out of boredom days prior.

Things common and rather futile, but it was there that held more of beauty.

The line shortened and it was already the turn of the pretty boy in front of him.

Sehun’s ear perked up to hear the boy’s voice more closely, only able to hear a faint baritone voice, so light and soothing.

He didn’t see time passing before the boy was already gone with a cup of ice rolls and it was the turn of the reticent Sehun, who didn’t think of buying ice cream for himself, but for the sake of not looking like a fool who waited for a whole line and not buying anything. He asked the seller to quickly give him a random flavor, keeping an eye on the little brunet of earlier to not lose his track. 

He frustratingly took the cup and throw a bill not even asking for the man to return the change and he was quick to catch up on the faraway young brunet, his long legs allowing it to be easy.

He was yet once again behind the petite man from a good ten meters distance, the nearly crowded street giving the taller man a chance to cover his freak tendencies of following beauties in the streets. Make it on the account of being on a sunny day, this Saturday afternoon sold free sunlights and a gentle breeze to let people flee from their home and go outside enjoying the weather.

Sehun took a large bite from the ice cream roll and chew on it like it was real meat — he didn’t fear the coldness of the thing to harm his gum nor for it to give him a brain freeze simply because it wouldn’t and his gum and teeth were so insensitive to cold he began to doubt his own body condition — before he just threw the cup altogether for there wasn’t enough savor nor enough sweet for his liking, putting back his frowning gaze on the back of the stranger he followed.

He was really not fond of sunny days, he hated feeling the slight bit heat on his black Givenchy suit slacks, black leather jacket, and designer shoes, but then again it was his fault to have chosen such heat-attracting palette of colors. It would have been on a daily basis, he would have already get back home whether to the villa where his men were guarding the merchandise of their illicit business or one of his very own condo apartment — one of which he is the landlord of the whole building — to just turn on the air conditioner and take a nap, but it was only for the little thing in front of him that the man put aside his discomfort and followed.

Now walking, the man in front of him seemed even more beautiful, sunlights flickering on his silhouette, his walking lazy and leisure making him look like a noble entity, and maybe he was? Sehun didn’t know the stranger’s whereabouts but he was sure to get the searches done latter.

Sehun saw the smaller brunet enter the front door of a little performing art theater. 

Watch a show alone on this hot day? He thought arching an eyebrow as he waited ten seconds in front of a newspaper kiosk near the building, seeming interested when he only wanted to give time for the boy to enter before him without it looked suspicious.

Just when Sehun stepped inside the theater — or whatever thing it was, he only assumed it to be a theater by its outside look— he was met with a strong yet gentle smell of old woods, the surrounding old pieces of furniture a little give away of where the smell could be from.

Before Sehun could delve into the idea that this type of institution might have been really viral back at the time where electronic devices didn’t see the light yet, he took a glimpse of a now-familiar male’s silhouette turning into a corner just behind the counter of the box office. What intrigued Sehun was that the door the boy had just trespassed had a little red sign that stated ‘Do not enter, authorized personnel only’.

Sehun looked at the young blond man who presumably was a ticket salesperson as he was behind the very old looking ticket office which shined with dozens of little lights. The young man looked so tired and done with his own life whilst he trailed his lazy gaze on the just shut door before trailing it back to Sehun.

By the look the young tickets seller’s long face was showing, Sehun knew he was only there for the least of money they gave him and the tall man couldn’t ask for more: people desperate for money were the easiest one to get information from.

“Hello” he began with his raspy voice before clearing his throat as he opened slowly his jacket taking off his stuffed wallet.

The ticket seller didn’t seem to have the will to respond, his eyes only focused on the wallet.

Sehun continued without asking for a response either “I’d like to ask you some question and I’m sure you’ll be cooperative...” he slowly slipped an equivalent to a hundred dollars on the polished worn out wood of the counter making the other man’s eyes growing significantly in size.

“Wait is it for me-“

“Only if you respond to some little questions”

The tickets seller didn’t seem to question his own integrity as he nodded eagerly to whatever that the man would tell him after, be damned principles and values if it can’t make him gain such money.

“It’s about the guy who just gets in this door a minute ago...” Sehun stopped the man before he could give in any information just yet, pointing the door in question “He’s a worker here, right? Tell me what’s his name, is he a staff member in here, eventually tell me where he lives.”

“It’s Luhan. The name’s Luhan.” The boy said now only Sehun could hear the slightly high pitched voice of the juvenile boy who otherwise looked like having already passed his puberty and was around his 20 despite the braces on his teeth. “He’s not really a staff, he’s a student in that one art college in downtown. He’s a substitute actor and dancer in this theater most of the time so he comes only when the boss calls him for a job. I don’t know where he lives but I can do my research for you if you want”

Sehun slightly cringed not wanting someone this filthy any near the beauty he’s seen earlier and whilst he shook his head firmly as a rejection to this idea and gave the bill of hundred to the eager boy, he took in the information about Luhan. It sounded Chinese, and the bilingual man could only affirm such with certainty. “So when is he going to perform?”

The boy didn’t seem to question this interest and smiled coyly instead “I can tell you if you give me another of this bill”

“I promise you my gun down your throat too if you’re being this greedy and don’t wanna cooperate”

Sehun didn’t mean to be this menacing but the words slipped out of his mouth like regular greetings.

The boy already guessed the tall man might have his easy ways with money and power — hell he handed a hundred as though it was a regular penny — and didn’t dare to take it as a bluff. “H-hey I was kidding, don’t take it seriously. H-He’s gonna perform in about thirty minutes and here is a ticket to the spectacle if you wanna see it” 

Sehun liked to be understood without trying or uttering a single word. 

He was sitting in a clean brand new rocker seats. Although the surrounding furniture and walls were ancient and worn out like the stage made out of, once again, woods, the seats were otherwise very modern and bright red, looking like any cinema seats, really.

Only little minutes were left before the spectacle and Sehun chose to sit in the very back seats’ row, the auditorium wasn’t really big but it still contained a good eleven rows. The front two rows were occupied by about ten persons scattered around the seats, the third a little less were seating and up from the fourth row to Sehun’s — eighth— it was empty aside from the old couple in the fifth and another middle-aged man in the seventh.

It was what one could consider a tired and tiny crowd but for a theater on a sunny day, it wasn’t that bad.

Now comfortable for having undressed from his jacket and only wearing, tugged in his slacks, a white shirt that embraced his sculpted and sinewy gait in a subtle way. Sehun shifted in his seat when the lights were turned down altogether to submerge them into darkness before it began.

He was really not fond of spectacle, and after he waited for about thirty minutes with being tiredly focused on the thing, and still not catching a little glimpse of the pretty man he’d followed earlier, he began to be really bored and hated theater even more if anything. 

It was an old sort of spectacle, a tragedy in the 1800s with a love story as the main intrigue and was a Romeo and Juliette’s more modern twin of a story: about some regular man, Candide, who falls in love with an upper-class woman but he was not being able to conquer her for he was a very timid guy and her rich family would never accept it. It was all Sehun understood until now but he still deciphered the original touch the writers had put to the spectacle: the characters rarely said anything, they only twirled around, dancing at times and acted dramatically, showing their emotions through perfectly trained facial expression and the music that was playing in the background helped to translate their feelings, setting the mood. However, when finally watching with attention, Sehun noticed that there were some rare times for dialogues: only a single necessary sentence would be voiced out from the theater’s speaker and the character would lip-sync. 

The clothes were original too. It was supposed to be a 19th century themed story but although the main protagonist and the other characters wore Victorians cloths such as dresses with corsets and styled suits, there was still something eye-catching and odd about it: all of their fabrics were white, pure white, from the shoes to the corset and suits.

Sehun was nearly snoring from all the boredom when another character swirled his way to the stage, wearing a pair of large ancient styled slacks and a chemise tugged in; the cloths should show how much of a poor person the character was, probably working in the land for a living. 

The main girl protagonist was already there seated and seemingly admiring the nature — a dim image of a field of roses and flowers and butterflies was projected by the video projectors— not noticing the boy who just entered the stage.

Sehun straightened back into his seat.

The body shape couldn’t be mistaken, petite and slim silhouette with very thin and slim torso yet long legs, a chestnut of hair color too. He couldn’t get to see the actor’s face since the latter was wearing a masquerade mask but it was a really familiar form: it was Luhan without a doubt.

The boy made his pace look hesitant as he approached the woman from behind and then tapped with his delicate finger the woman’s soft shoulder blade.

When she turned her head to the left, Luhan looked panicked as he jumped to her right so she won’t see him. He then tapped her right shoulder, making her turn her head to her right but he did the same thing and jumped to her left for her to not see him.

It happened 2 more times before Luhan put his hand in front of his face as though to laugh when the girl protagonist seemed to be irritated.

It was their first meeting and both sat next to each other in silence for a moment, looking at each other like strangers getting to know one another only with the eye before then a voice emerged from the speaker: “I’m Candide” Luhan lip-synced along with the foreign voice.

It was just then that Sehun recalled: in his sleeping, those past 30 minutes, that Candide was the name of the protagonist male. However, Luhan wasn’t the protagonist.

Just then Sehun understood why the character Luhan was playing wore a mask and lied about his identity: he was trying to help the protagonist with meeting his beloved, as a bro help, by pretending to be him. 

Sehun watched them interact wordlessly and giggling and already knew what was the ending of this story. He nonetheless didn’t mind it as he only focused on Luhan’s body. 

The way his legs looked incredibly alluring in the straight slacks, how he looked incredibly alluring when dancing and turning the protagonist girl around.

People probably all focused on the girl because she was the protagonist and she looked very beautiful with her fluffy dress and exposed cleavage but Sehun didn’t give her a single glance, he all but focused on what would be the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. Luhan looked so precious from afar and Sehun itched to get closer and watch his twirling and dancing for him all day.

Like he had already guessed, the character Luhan was playing was just like a cannon fodder, he helped the shy boy protagonist to get closer to the girl but ended having feelings for her too. In spite of that, it was already late since all the credits of the beautiful words he told her was already given to Candide, meaning that Luhan’s character was just a stranger for her, and the two protagonists had already met with his help, he even was being rejected by the woman when he showed her his face — which was utterly dumb Sehun thought, blaming the writers only. After being revolted by his own feelings and foolishness, Luhan’s character planned to kidnap the girl, however, he was quickly being stopped by the male protagonist who killed him. The noble act helping the protagonist to get the blessing of the girl’s family, the father really joyful to give her daughter to someone brave, courageous and showed just how worthy he was for her.

It was all sad and dumb, Sehun thought as he watched the pretty boy’s body laying on the floor surrounded by the male and female protagonist who kissed softly as her rich dad and mom clapped their hands joyfully.

Moment later, the actors all lined up in a straight line before bowing down, pathetic thunderous applause coming from the first two rows whilst Sehun only watched the babe’s sweet smiling as he bowed.

Poor baby thing probably gets a few pennies for his acting and is still thankful, the tall man just couldn’t help but think.

He was very curious about him, what was his personality, what was his likes and dislikes, even his point of view in all imaginable debate made here on earth. He already showed him his talent in acting now Sehun wondered what else is there to discover. 

He at first feared to get close to the man, he just didn’t want to discover that the pretty little head was, in fact, hallow and dumb but now seeing the babe showing him something as noble and charismatic as acting activities, Sehun was even the more curious and eager to see more.

The next week, Sehun visited the theater yet another time when Luhan was in the actors' crew for another boring-if-it’s-not-for-his-presence spectacle.

This time however he only appeared two minutes as a fairy helping the protagonist to found his way through the dark forest and although Sehun was mad for losing his time if not for the 2 minutes, he couldn’t help but thank the writers to have assigned this character to Luhan. A fairy. Adorable little thing in fluffy cloths, barefooted with his incredible pale skin.

For it was incredibly accurate.

Sehun had already made his research or at least get his information from one of his men. 

Some little information was yet to be discovered such as the high school the man attended when he was younger although Sehun suspected it was in China he still needed to know exactly where. This information was strangely missing, along with his parent’s whereabouts. He didn’t put more thought into it putting the blame on China’s tight security regarding their citizens from the outside world.

The boy was a student in an art school like the salesperson has told him a week ago, but he already tried a year in a literature university, a compatibility one and a politic one before going back to art, which was the reason why he was twenty-three years old and still freshmen in the art college. 

He lived in a flat apartment on the outskirt of the city, having to do all the way to his university and his numerous part-time jobs but Sehun knew for sure he made all the path on feet, the man was an athlete despite having a not so muscular body.

His stamina seemed to be great too, from part-time jobs and school he didn’t even look the slight bit exhausted. 

The only disappointing aspect was that everything wasn’t worth the little prince’s time, he was to get a better surrounding and a better appreciation of his little person than just a two-minutes-long acting in a lame theater in an even more lame storyline. He was worth better than that.

It was what Sehun thought throughout the whole time he passed observing him.

Sehun was now in a satisfying state, Luhan showed him shades of him that looked very intriguing and interesting but the former knew — and this was his assumption, one of the ones that already lead him to many of his successful decisions — he just knew that Luhan had yet to show him more and surprise him.

That was the principal reason why Sehun found the director of the theater the very next night and convinced him to fire Luhan.


	2. Arc-En-Ciel

2.

Urging someone out of his job, especially a part-time job, wasn’t difficult for Sehun. He already had a somewhat reputation in town, mostly as a casino tycoon although there’s few little rumors about him having background illicit deals, but it all stayed muffled and most didn’t believe it despite its accuracy and it being true. Add to it the fact that he was a conman in nature, an orator as it is, sweet talk and urging the theater owner to believe anything that he said, only little minutes were needed before the man was convinced that Luhan was a poor little guy who was easily ill, was fainting and sometimes coughed blood and needed to stay put still and stop all his overactivity in terms of jobs to keep him safe from doing a heart attack in the middle of the stage. Sehun managed to make him believe that he was Luhan’s guardian, that the latter’s parents living in China asked him to look after their son; Sehun looked utterly convincing as he frowned with a hint of sadness plastered all over his face. 

He also warned him to not tell it directly to Luhan, “just tell him you no longer need him“ he said and the director nodded vigorously “or else if you tell him that you know about his illness he’ll try to deny it to keep the job, I'm telling you this kid is senseless and a pain in the ass to look after”. The director had kids himself, he could only just sigh in pure empathy, not believing that Luhan could be this reckless about his own health but then again the kid was probably burdened with the fee to pay for the college and his own living, so he didn’t mind Luhan lying about his condition and was even more determined to fire the poor lamb, in mind that now Luhan had Sehun, his parent’s friend, to look after him.

What Sehun wanted to happen, happened, it was rule.

Sehun wasn’t that cruel, he didn’t just use his skills and status to convince people to fire other people out of boredom — although, really, the whole situation seemed like the latter description — the thing was: he wanted for Luhan to get fired out of this hellhole of a theater and _thus,_ if everything goes along Sehun’s plan, Luhan would soon be met with a proposition that he just couldn’t refuse and Sehun could see Luhan more often and where a shining little twink of a boy he was should be.

The tall twenty-five-years-old man liked to imagine scenarios. Scenarios made out of speculations. Scenarios made out of speculations that he put into action — like now urging Luhan out of his job and many other times for many other people — and although it was very dangerous and completely reckless to test someone’s life, to change it, to turn it into a way he imagined and thought to lead where he wished even though it could turn out the other way and completely wreck the poor thing’s life, it always proved true in a frightful way. His speculation helped with his keen sense of examining people and his luck that seemed to have been shoved up his ass since birth, always ended to be true.

Take the time where he met Chanyeol, he was certain the boy has a grand future ahead and it would be nice to help him build the bar he’s always dreamt of building, and it just proved to be true : there Chanyeol was surrounded by stacks of money and in a place that he actually liked to be in, instead of the future his parents wanted him to have, it being an engineer in countability or finance and get a place in some stable big name of industry and living his life in front of a screen and paperwork — it all wasn’t Chanyeol’s type.

Or take the time he turned a doctor he encountered by accident into his own personal doctor to help when his men have been through some bad shit and some have been injured.

This one time in high school when he dodged death only because he was too lazy to wait for the bus to bring him back home under the rain and decided to stay the night with a girl friend he knew, could be counted as well since the bus he should have taken had been smashed by a heavy truck rolling too fast, resulting in many injured and deaths. Sehun isn’t cruel, he had been sad for the victims but he still would laugh at how his instinct had lead him to stay in that girl’s house and get one good blowjob instead of dying.

His instincts always lead him to just know what to do and what would eventually happen.

And his instinct right now told him that Luhan would accept Chanyeol’s proposition when the latter would come across the boy being fired by his boss “by accident” and would recommend him a job into his bar. 

Chanyeol was sent by his instruction but Sehun knew sending the men was like sending himself. The former was already a manipulator by nature and being by Sehun’s side for more than 4 years, Chanyeol could only use his skills to obtain Luhan’s contentment in doing anything that he wanted him to do. 

And since the boy would feel extremely down for losing a job he could only accept the proposition Chanyeol would give him.

Sehun wouldn’t like to show himself in front of Luhan just yet. 

It was one of his traits of scenarios too, Luhan shouldn’t meet him just yet in this conditions or else it would wreck the whole scenario and it wouldn’t be fun for the former, Sehun would just make Luhan come to him first — or at least to make him think so.

The fact was that he simply didn’t careless. It was just a game that he set to entertain himself ant it revolved around three steps: setting scenarios, doing little actions in the dark, and see if the person follow the path he had guessed they would take. Luhan —much like many people Sehun met in his life — was the victim of his curiosity, although Sehun just perhaps put more effort and time in following him around and, should it be the most important element, he had more expectation on Luhan. 

Maybe was it because the little brunet was cute and totally his type to wish that he could be of the same mind as him, Sehun liked to call himself an artist, after all, nothing can be as much disappointing than meeting a person he thinks beautiful who doesn’t match with his own personality or not sharing the same interest. Plus Sehun was more difficult in regards to the people around him: he liked people with depth, to be unique and surprising like he liked them to be. 

Therefore, the next day after Sehun saw his soon to be muse doing his last performance in the theater as a fairy, he headed to the latter’s place, in front of Luhan’s very door of his studio apartment. 

Out of curiosity, really. And since the tall twenty-five-years-old-man had long since put aside his integrity and principles if it could quench his curiosity, it was all fine for him to commit an infraction.

He came an hour ago, at 6:48 am and did wait in front of Luhan’s block for him to step out of his apartment. Inside a Hyundai Asta petrol he got thanks to Tongtonghae, one of his men, he tried hard to ignore the car’s dirty flour, snack’s plastic bags thrown here and there. The outside of the car was on itself cringe worth, the color of the car was once upon a time white but all that was left was a speck of light brown dust-covered body and with few significant bumps on it. It was what Sehun wanted: he aimed to come in incognito, what would have been the point of bringing one of his shining Maserati or his favorite yellow Ford Mustang if it wouldn’t be for the whole street to know that he came passing by?

He waited until Luhan’s frail body was on view, wearing like usual his loose grey backpack that looked heavy with art books, a tee tugged inside an oversized pair of jeans and held tight around his hips with a thin belt— Sehun soon understood that the little man had a little something for 90s fashion. He knew that the boy would go pass by a shop, being the first customer each early mornings, to take like usual his breakfast which consisted of a chocolate bar and a little bottle of banana milk before he would head to his faculty in feet. 

Eventually, tonight, Luhan would go to the theater for his appointed rendezvous with the crew of actors he would train with and that’s the moment he would be met with his boss instead telling him that he was getting fired and then Chanyeol would be discussing with him.

It all gave Sehun the time to inspect his new muse’s cocoon. 

It was already 7:26 am, Luhan had long been gone and it was in the morning dusk that Sehun stepped out of the borrowed vehicle. He was wearing work clothes, a blue marine long-sleeved jacket, workwear pants with many pockets, a cap and a worn-out backpack full of locksmith’s tool; a locksmith was what he aimed to look like, and he very much looked like one. It was all for if there were curious neighbors who might be perplexed to see a stranger working on the locked door of a student.

It was a rather hot of a morning, Sehun noted as he strode across the road to reach the building, chewing on a toothpick set in the corner of his lips. 

He reached the fourth floor with a bit of time, giving the fact that the elevator was not working and he had to do the whole journey up in the stairs at feet but with his long legs he still managed to make it quicker.

The tall man already came here and knew Luhan’s apartment was located in the very corner of the corridor — for which he was thankful for. Moreover, the door lock had set him puzzled the first time he’d seen it; it was a tumbler lock probably the most common yet old fashioned lock and surely the easiest one to pin. How could such a lovely man live all alone in his little house with such a lock when any malevolent person can enter it without much efforts? It all but urged Sehun to work on giving Luhan a better place to live in.

He soon crouched down with very few materials on the floor working on the lock while humming to a tone, looking like the perfect epitome of a good-willed working man.

All Sehun had to do was to insert a tension wrench, a very small flat L shaped steel stick, into the bottom of the keyhole, holding it with one hand —two of his long fingers were all that it needed— whilst the other hand worked on inserting a pick raked, a very small flat steel stick with tree little ridges like pointy teeth, into the upper part of the keyhole and he had to move it back and forth for a little moment.

Along a smile that one would found seductive, a little childish thought formed in his mind as he moved the flat stick in and out of the hole frantically, that of a little brunet getting the same treatment from Sehun but this time not from a pathetic little steel stick but something else, much much bigger that should have the same hardness, and to not the boy’s door’s keyhole but something else that should prove the same tightness. 

Was it only horniness or was it because of Luhan waking up his primitive desires only with a bat of his pretty doe eyes, Sehun didn’t know.

Not thirty seconds had passed before Sehun heard a little ‘click’ sound and felt the door opening. Throwing his tools back to his backpack, the tall man rolled his eyes again at how the door evinced as much easy to break through as Luhan’s life.

As soon as he closed the door behind him he was met with a cozy smell of home, it was warm and smelled faintly of lemon detergent and another lightly musky perfume that Sehun guessed being Luhan’s cologne. There was a light fresh breeze hitting his face and when he turned it toward the source of it, he saw with not much surprise that the only window at view was opened.

When standing in front of the door the image we had in front of us would be of a small in width and long in length apartment since there were two small floors; although still small to be considered as a whole two flours. Right in front was a little couch, a little kitchen counter and a refrigerator on the adjacent wall — to Sehun’s right— and to his left a staircase of not much than 10 steps that lead to an opened area where was a mattress along with pretty sheets on top on the floor. It was a rather original and uncommon architecture, which would normally elevate its price from a regular student flat.

He walked slowly grazing his finger upon the small excuse of a kitchen counter, bringing his hand back to his pocket when met with the wet surface of the sink where sat a wet cup of coffee that was put upside down to dry.

His eyes then stared at the little bookshelf that hung in the corner above the couch before walking toward it.

He caressed the brown body of the first few books, knowing it’s content just by their names and looks; literature books for school. Looking at how they still looked brand new, a little something called instinct and logic told Sehun that Luhan probably never touched and even less read them.

He then looked at the other more colorful or just more original books on the shelf, novels this time he took one or two to read the description to come to the conclusion that Luhan perhaps really liked adventurous novels and fantasy fiction.

Sehun liked to think that one‘s personality can be shown through their bookshelf and when he took note of a thick and white covered book he himself enjoyed on the bookshelf, _1Q84_ and another one, a Korean prose collection this time: _although crying wouldn’t change anything_ by Park Jun, the image he had of the little man —which was already good — consequently improved and he even held a little respect for him as he saw the many pages being dog eared. It was interesting to see him so fond of books like this; although not that surprising given the fact that the boy already tried a literature university.

He threw his eyes down to the couch to see an opened book put upside down to keep the page where Luhan last read it surely. Sehun recognized the black cover with simple writing for the title in the middle and two little bees in white, since he knew a woman that belonged the same one.

It was a compilation of the author's many poetries, with very few punctuations just a few lines in a page with a quick drawing. From the few quotes he got from this very same woman friend he got, he thought it was a rather good-for-emotional-women-going-through-their-period kind of book.

He picked it up with his gloved hands and read where Luhan stoped. 

_what am i to you he asks_

_i put my hands on his laps_

_and whisper you_

_are every hope_

_i’ve ever had_

_in human form_

Sehun put his thumb in the middle of the two pages to not lose them and randomly opened the book in another page that was dog-eared and read :

_she was a rose_

_in the hand of those_

_who had no attention_

_of keeping her_

This one strangely hit, reminiscing him of his own way of handling a stranger who didn’t even ask him anything and eventually throwing him if he didn’t meet his expectation. He tsk-ed and put back the book exactly where it was. 

He didn’t notice it at first but there was a door that led to the bathroom just under and hid by the stairway. He made a quick call inside, looking at the many products the man used, shampoo, body lotions, and many other things, recognizing few of them, although some really intrigued him like that one peach body lotion where was written ‘ _for men’,_ however, he didn’t know if it was made in purpose or not but it all but looked like a manly product for the many hearts plastered on it and the extra pink.

Sehun then climbed up the stairs and flopped down the mattress. 

Actually, looking at the nice pieces of furniture around, getting a bed frame or not wouldn’t have a significant financial impact for Luhan, Sehun deduced. Although the boy was in need of money for the many jobs he had, if he had the money to buy the many types of furniture in there, he surely had for a bed frame if he wanted too. Which led Sehun to think that Luhan wanted to have a bed composed of a mattress only, and just wanted to sleep on the floor.

His image of the man once again improved.

Sehun himself loved sleeping on the floor like ancient times, no luxurious king-sized bed can match a single mattress and sheets on the floor. If anything, in a way so paradoxical, he felt way much more uncomfortable in fluffy sheets and comfy mattresses than rough and old ones.

Taking off his cap, Sehun turned around to slightly sniff the pillow, taking a moment to savor Luhan’s natural scent that was masked by the floral scent of his shampoo, the fabric a little bit humid — which showed that the boy slept without drying his hair after taking a shower — and Sehun had to hum in content for Luhan still kept his image of a small Prince Charming in his head despite being intruded in his most intimate room which would on itself shows little flaws; but there wasn’t.

Luhan was perfect for him now.

And Sehun couldn’t wait to wreck him.

Sehun was back to the casino he belonged. 

The tall man wore a white Louis Vuitton suit because he knew men and women liked him in such attires as he passed around the row of gambling games surrounded by crowded riches or desperate people in need of having back their money —which would all but result in more money wasting. It was how the world worked, whether it’s about men or women, you can sell anything when you have the looks, some actually went to the casino just to take a little glimpse of the handsome and tall tycoon if he ever happened to be there.

It was Tuesday night, many people seemed to come this particular day along the weekend. Many riches and foreigners who took a break from work to travel in Korean and probably if it wasn’t already done, taking a little trip to Japan or China next — it was what he usually heard from his foreign customers. 

He smiled charmingly at a demoiselle he hadn’t seen for months, _Naomie_. She was the daughter of a French partner of his who would once in a while drop by in the country. A beauty she was, she had cute little almond eyes, one lidded one, and a light-dark skin. If one was to take his judgment depending on stereotypes then they could hardly believe the girl didn’t have any Asiatics genes. Sehun particularly liked her good naturing demeanor despite being a child of a wealthy and haughty politician — all of his partners of affairs are of the same bread and he could even say he was, himself, just as much loathsome — and he got to admit that the girl made he feel some type of way whenever she would spot him and come to him saying with a flush on her cheek and a smile so white and bright "Uncle, it’s been a long time!" with an adorable french accent and an adorable cleavage of a D cup size.

This time though Sehun couldn’t satisfy his dick and queer fantasy of being called ‘uncle’, he had to talk business with some men. 

"Fuck me!," The tall twenty-five-years-old man sighed as he slumped down on the couch of his VIP lounge that he turned into a meeting room after dismissing collaborators he’s been talking to for an hour. He brought his hand to unbutton the first few buttons but stopped in mid-air for they were already unbuttoned. " Like seriously Tongtonghae, it’s always the same thing! They come in, I give them the price, they don’t like the price so they try to bargain but in the end, after a freaking thirty minutes, they are convinced and take the price I’ve given them nonetheless. So now tell me what was the point of losing my goddamn time when they could have just fucking agreed from the beginning?" 

"Hm, yeah; dumbasses" Tongtongtae, the only man left with him in the room, responded absent-mindedly, too engrossed in the Korean salty dishes he got from a regular food stall in Gugje market in town. The man was seated on an armchair just next to Sehun and was careless enough to put his feet on the latter’s loveseat, his plump feet looking like about to explode from the tight designer shoes — apparently not designed for the man’s chubby ones — just under Sehun’s nose.

"Hey told you not to put your goddamn feet on my goddamn suede couch, and give me that" Sehun snatched the box of food from his friend’s hand. "What’s that? Tteokbokki? you don’t get tired of these?" 

Sehun put the brim of the cup to his lips and gulped down one or two of the rice cakes, trying not to choke on them when boisterous laughter urged itself out of his throat at the view of Tongtongtae trying to stir himself out from the armchair but in vain as his significant weight made it hard for him to get up. Sehun continued to laugh whilst he gave the cup back and tapped Tongtongtae’s round belly affectionally.

As though a child being given back their sweets, Sehun’s friend calmed down and continued to chew on his dish.

The taller man in the room sighed heavily while he wiped his mouth with white tissues “Seriously Yixing couldn’t have just talked it out with them, like it’s his thing when it comes to MDMA, I probably told it to y’all like the millionth time but I’m more into robbery and money laundering than fucking drug”

“Yeah but...” Tongtongtae said between two slurps “He’s more into bringing the merch than talking with clients. They’re pain in the ass and you’re the only one who can convince them easily. Like... it’s like you control their mind with only the words you say, like, it’s like you’re using telepathy, you know, you twist their mind and make them believe anything that you want. I think if you wanted you can even convince me to begin a diet and work out — something I’d never think of doing, feel me?”

Sehun laughed lightly for the praise since he knew the other man was just mocking him in a way. 

He kept quiet for a moment in which he looked up at the mirrored ceiling. “Nah...” he saw himself saying in the mirror, neck still craned up and Adam Apple bobbing when letting pass the deep answer “I won’t do that cause I like you the way you are” he then looked down and back to his friend, putting his hand on the man’s white slacks-clothed plump thigh; even though Sehun’s hands were big, it still couldn’t circumference half of the man’s big thigh. “Y’now Tongtongtae isn’t Tongtongtae without his fatty body, it’s part of your personality: if you become skinnier you would look ugly to me, you won’t be intimidating your men too, like zero credibility when you tell them you’re gonna suffocate them till death” 

The smaller man — although still a good 5’9 — grinned lightly at his friend’s rare moment where he compliments him instead of just provoking him and nodded for his argument was convincing. Not that he ever thought of doing a diet, heck he loved his fats, and he still got women’s attention with the money he gains in their illicit collaboration, what’s the point of getting a slimmer body?

“Plus you’re thick, no woman can beat your big ass” Sehun added expecting a reaction that came straight.

Laughing with his usual grandpa laugh, Tongtongtae slapped the man’s hand away “Go away, you clown”

It was all bro-talking, both knew.

The next moment, without any knocking, a tall and sinewy man wearing a black suit entered the room. He was taller than Sehun from two little centimeters and had dyed his hair grey because of the latter’s advice, telling him that he would look a bit more youthful and charming. He had few tattoos plastered on his body too, just little ones that aren’t that much eye-catching. He closed the door behind him and faced the two men seating in front. 

“Oh hi, Chanyeol”

“Ugh, is the dress code for tonight ‘white’ “ Chanyeol pointed out as he looked to the two dressed in white suits.

“Now that you’re here it’s ‘Yin and Yang’ fucker“

Rolling his eyes for Sehun’s remark, Chanyeol flopped down next to him and tried to suppress his wide smile when the brunet looked at him expectantly.

“So...?” 

“That’s some surprising kid...” the grey-haired man sighed through a smile, not revealing what was surprising just yet just to get Sehun mad.

“Get straight to it, Chan, I know he accepted by the look on your face, just tell me what he said already”

Chanyeol this time turned to Sehun’s direction and had on a strange smile as he narrated “So I did like you wanted, I went to the damn theater, I thought they would talk in private but he just fired the kid right there next to the box office — not like anyone was around — so I looked at the scene and the kid just... nodded, like nothing was shown on his face and he accepted being thrown like it’s regular.”

Chanyeol made a break for Sehun to comment but the latter didn’t say anything; Sehun had already noticed that Luhan wasn’t the most expressive type.

“So he got out and I followed him, he just sat in a bench outside, and I sat next to him. I didn’t beat around the bush and I told him like you instructed: ‘hey so I heard you’ve been kicked out and let me tell you it’s because of my friend, Sehun, who’s been following you around—“

“What the hell—“

“Nah I’m kidding,” The taller laughed lightly at the view of a frowning Sehun, “I told him I witnessed him getting fired and that I actually needed new staff. ‘So I’m in need of few people now that I’ve built my bar a bit bigger’”

“You let him chose like we said, right?”

“Yeah, I told him, that I need a new bartender, cashier, cleaner, dancer anything, and guess what he chose?”

“Cleaner” was the first thing Sehun said since it was surprising and Chanyeol seemed to have been surprised by the boy’s response.

“Heck, he told me what kind of dancer, and I told him it’s for women only, like some pole-dancer shit, and at the moment I thought it was obvious for him to decline, but he actually told me if it was ok if he dressed up as a woman to get the position.”

Sehun was grateful for Chanyeol to quiet it down since he needed time to gulp down the information. 

Luhan being a dancer in a fluffy little theater’s story was already routine for Sehun to see, but Luhan actually going ahead and asking to be a pole dancer in women’s clothes in Chanyeol’s club, this was beyond his expectations.

“You’re kidding?” Was the first thing Sehun managed to say.

The taller shook his head sideways like he always did when something inconceivable occurred “I swear to god I’m just as dumbstruck as you now, like, the kid didn’t say yes to 'bartender', didn’t say yes to cleaner didn’t say yes to anything and instead asked me if he can dress up girly and wants to be a pole-dancer, it’s some freak and crazy in the head that you find here, man, like, he’ totally nuts. I hope you don’t expect me to keep him a long time cuz I don’t wanna give a bad image to my bar and lose clients just because your little Luhan doesn’t know how to fucking dance in a pole and it’s totally expected since he’s a man, and even if he wears a fucking dress he’ll still look like a goddamn man—“

“What the actual fuck are you two talking about” Tongtongtae finally said, cutting Chanyeol off and looking totally lost to the point he had dropped his cup of food down on the armrest for a minute now.

Chanyeol didn’t respond and as he turned his head to Sehun expecting a frowning face or a confused one since, for the first time in many years, this was the first time Sehun didn’t get his intuition right —heck Sehun had told him that the boy would for sure take whether cashier or bartender—but he wasn't prepared to see the tall brunet with a creepy smile on his face as he laughed lightly.

“You’re kidding? Hell, this _just_ begins to be interesting...” said then Sehun as he crossed his legs, making inadvertently Tongtongtae’s cup of hot rice cakes falling to the floor with his knee.

**A/N: Now, that i think about it, there's a lot of weird things going on in this story, i should add it in the tags.**

**Oh and I might keep the same pace of updating a chap every week. i think. hopefully.**

**Also tell me if you recognized that one book that is mentioned in this chap! (kinda famous but still worth the praises)**


	3. Tic et Tac

3.

“Hoy! Goddamn it, Chan, can’t you bring your gay ass down for a minute?” 

Two well-built men got out of their black Mercedes SUV, both wearing black and tight-fitting cloth. If one has to make a judgment out of their appearance they whether looked like two commandos as they both held an uzi in one of their hand, with their face hid underneath their turtleneck and their cap or they looked like twins with the same tall and very muscular stature. They nearly looked like being one another’s mirror reflection as one held the uzi in his left hand and the other in his right one.

These two were under Sehun’s command, two murderers of the finest formation. They were named ‘tic and tac’ and no one knew exactly why Sehun named them such, no one even knew who was tic and who was tac, they just both get recognized as such. They weren’t siblings and didn’t even look alike but they always hanged together and wore the same stuff. 

The secret behind this had something to do with their background. They didn’t have anything in common at very first, In their childhood, one lived in the far west side of the country and the other lived in the northeast. They were both orphans and lived in their own orphanage for one or passed between host families for the younger. At the age of 17 for the older and 16 for the other though, they were captured by body organs traffickers and met in the same van, the two being the oldest among five to ten years old kids. 

The children around them were all tied down and were sedated but the two were one of the few left with a single tie around their wrist and weren’t given any drug since they were utterly calm. 

The younger was the first to be captured in the corner of a street, and after a few months of seizing many small children, it was the older’s turn. The latter though wasn’t seized just in the street: his own orphanage had sold him along with two other little children to the traffickers in exchange for some good money. They met in the Van that would take them to Korea’s seaport, Japan being their destination to whether have their heart, kidneys, liver dug out or being sold to become prostitutes. They both exchanged a long journey, learned about each other as though it was their last time talking to a living soul and not leaving any secrets aside, making them closer than anyone had ever been close. They shared their casual feelings about being slaughtered too, not fearing death since not having any goal in life nor family. They never knew what to do with their life, therefore, being fated as merchandise was an otherwise easy way given to them to live— or at least it was what both shared as resentment.

However, the van had to make a stop for it seemingly broke down. It was then that tic and tac heard a man liquidating effortlessly the two smugglers into a bloody heap of dead limbs. On that occasion, they met with the man’s —Sehun— eccentric self as he opened the backdoors of the Van as though he opened Ali Baba’s cave full of treasures, whistling at the enormous amount of twelve children hid between bags of rice, counting them out loud in Russian although he looked Chinese and saying something along “No problemo, chicos, chicas, you’re safe”. Now given the fact that he talked Spanish and English to young Korean children it was all to confuse them; taking in account that they nearly reached the border of the Sea of Japan was even more comic.

Tic and Tac had been all but surprised when Sehun pointed a finger at them, but this time he addressed in Korean, telling them to get out and help him carry the smugglers’ corpse to throw them in the river a hundred meters away.

Tic and Tac were even more surprised to see Sehun calling the police to signal an abandoned Van with captured children inside and even more so when Sehun asked the two of them, the only adolescent in the mass of children, if they wanted to follow him and have a new life. 

The man had probably looked through their lack of concern of being captured and carrying a bloody corpse and thus understood that it was those kinds of people that could be by his side. 

Some days after, the two youngsters amazement seemed to reach another level when they learned about what was the real motive that pushed Sehun to kill the two traffickers: it was only because they trespassed the boundaries of Sehun’s territory and since they were from a rival’s gang and did a despicable business such as human trafficking, judging them like lowlifes, he didn’t hesitate to shot them with his Kalashnikov AK47.

Now three years later, they had fully matured, became taller and stronger and had met Sehun’s expectation of becoming cold-blooded hitmen. Since he gained the two men’s respect, Sehun was now their one and only boss and both were able to die for him; Sehun was like a father in a way, gifting them a home, an education and a purpose of life— although it was not near any righteous education or righteous purpose of life.

Upon seeing them getting near his bar’s entrance and even yelling this much loud, Chanyeol quickly get out of the front door to push them back to the SUV — it was Friday late night, the moment where was many many of his client and the man just didn’t want to have them carrying their guns around his precious clients.

“What the fuck do you want, and how many times am I going to tell y’all brainless asses that I don’t want you to hang out in my business with goddamn uzis in hands” Chanyeol broke out when they entered the SUV, already breathless and neck red although he was just beginning reprimanding.

The two who sat at the driver and passenger seat kept quiet for a moment before looking back to Chanyeol. They respected Sehun enough to respect Chanyeol as well, but they had little patience and were afraid one day they would let their impulse take the best of them. Chanyeol had little patience too and it was probably why the duo and the taller weren’t really in good terms.

Business was a very impressive thing since it can put aside personal matters, one can talk with calm minds even with their biggest enemy.

“There’s a thing going on with Yixing’s merch. It was supposed to come two days ago but no van in sight.” Begin the younger who was sitting in the driver seat.

“Sehun-ssi and Yixing are nowhere to be found, like... they vaguely answer to the phone saying that they’re busy and are going to call back soon” continued the older in the passenger seat. 

“So we wanted to talk to you cuz we don’t know what to do. Merch is not our thing”

It never failed to amaze Chanyeol how Tic and Tac always talked in sync or, when one begins, the other continues smoothly just right after the first had finished his sentence as if they used telepathy or even shared the same mind for how fast they were synchronized in their talking process.

The Taller of the three, Chanyeol, scoffed inwardly at how they looked sad for not being given time by Sehun. They were nearly pouting as they voiced out their worries about Sehun disappearing and not responding to the phone even though the man did the very thing — disappearing without news — on a daily basis.

Two big men like them being rendered to such little kitten, Chanyeol had to applaud his friend’s impact.

“Sehun, Tongtongtae, and Yixing went to settle some business with the Japanese. And for the Van of Merch, are you sure it had to come two days ago?”

“We don’t know” begin one.

“Yixing only told us to look for the Van to come the 4th. Today’s the 6th.” Continued the other right away.

Chanyeol looked up to stare at the younger. Although being 19 he looked way more mature than the older who was 20. He had a long face where a scar rested on his left side, from his temple to his jaw. The scar wasn’t the only mark he’s got, his long nose was slightly deformed surely from a fight, a punch that was too powerful and that left his nose with a little hump. Despite that, those were very little details for the man was handsome, whether for his one lidded eyes that gave him a piercing but lazy and nonchalant look, or his thin upper lips and plump bottom lips, most people would found him good looking. 

“Did you call the guy who’s driving the Van? If he doesn’t respond that means that whether he stole the merch for himself or that he’s had problems with the cops or he’s been killed and the merch was stollen by other dickheads.”

The younger scratched the back of his head, looking sorry and the older talked for them both. “The thing is... We never really do merch we told you, it’s just because Sehun-ssi asked us to do a favor for Yixing that we stayed in the villa every day to wait for the van..”

“... and so we didn’t ask for his number, we didn’t really think of it.”

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows and breathed deeply from his nose. He then looked to his right at the older who was seating at the passenger seat.

This one was as muscled as the younger but didn’t have that many scars on his face. Chanyeol is aware that his scars were actually bigger than the younger and they were on his torso and back, long sword-inflicted-like scars as deep as the sea plastered on his upper body hidden underneath his black commando uniform. His face nonetheless was in good shape, having a long face too, he, however, has two lidded doe eyes with long lashes that made one feel intrigued whenever they looked at his face: since his soft-looking eyes conflicted with the tough image that gave his very chiseled jawline and thin lips. And the image was even more disturbing when he smiled, for his thin lips will stretch widely to show big, sharp and pointy looking teeth glistering and menacing like that of a shark’s teeth. Nonetheless, he was still a beauty to many people around him.

“I mean, I don’t know, misters, if you didn’t even ask for the number and Yixing didn’t even think of giving you the number I can’t do anything.” Chanyeol shrugged his wide shoulders before looking through the dark window of the SUV toward the front opening of his bar. He had to look after one of his bartenders and had to see Luhan since the man would begin his job today; he needed to get back and see if everything was ok.

They stayed in eery silence for a good thirty seconds, before Tic and Tac talked in sync. “When is Sehun-ssi coming back?”

Chanyeol really thought that he was going to turn blind for how much he rolled his eyes to the very back of his head.

The twenty-two-years-old man had put on his black velvet suit and his shiniest Salvatore Ferragamo designer shoes, one of his fanciest ensemble. It was 7:47 pm and there were already many people seating in the bar.

He had settled the problems going on with the bartender —Hyuk was sick and he had to call for Kyungsoo to take his place although the latter already finished his shift, the adorable man was eager to satisfy the boss and didn’t argue to come work extra time — and now Chan was heading toward the dressing room of his pole dancers.

The man still remembered how it was difficult to keep a crew of pole dancers two years ago, a year after he just began his business. His bar just began to be more stable and with the help of Sehun, he gained many regular clients. It was a pain in the ass to found decent pole dancers, by decent pole dancers Chanyeol meant pole dancers that apply for the job to dance and to dance only. The first girls he got did him dirty as they tried to ask for money from his clients in exchange of their services — prostitute in definition. However, Chanyeol wasn’t fond of prostitution not really for the moral principles but more for its disgusting side and its time-consuming aspect. Plus he didn’t want his bar to turn into peepshows where naked women walked all around. He only wanted dancers, just for the tease, just to get people entertained by the elegance of the dancers’ show because it was what he searched for: talent to dance around the pole, and elegance to keep his bar categorized in the ‘classy bars’.

So it took time but after a year he finally managed to gather all the gem of talented dancers he now has, flexibility, curvy body, talented dancers, he all but cherished his little crew of pole dancers.

As he opened the door, he was not surprised to be met with Cooper on the floor doing some stretching as Vivi held her long leg up to the mirrored wall putting on some makeup.

Chanyeol doesn’t ask all his dancers to come the same day, he usually asks for two the Friday two others the Saturday and the last two the Sunday. 

Today however was a little exception, Chanyeol thought as he trailed his eyes to the petite person on the back, seating obediently as a tall woman was professionally setting the wig on top of their head.

If Chanyeol didn’t know better, he would have eventually thought Luhan was a woman.

He was dressed with a crop top sort of a sleeved shirt with the sleeve oversized and fringed, thin fringes of tissues swaying with his hand’s every movement. Bellow, he got himself a half skirt half short, again Chanyeol didn’t really understand women’s fashion but he knew these were popular among little high schooler. And it suited the boy really well as it not only gave him a decently curved bottom but it also hid whatever proof of manliness he’s got in between his dainty legs.

With the superfluous of fabric the fringe it hid pretty well his stature. Although, now that Chanyeol was in front of Luhan’s exposed skin, his flat belly and thin waist, he nearly thought that hiding his frame wasn’t even necessary.

The wig the women was fixing was a medium-length cut, the thin brown hair —nearly like Luhan’s real hair color — were straight and reached just above his shoulders. There were thin strands of hair falling down on his forehead which was looking like a very light bang and was part of the wig. The wig’s base of hair was well made and it looked smooth just like real hair, no default showing that it was a wig — although really if a hair professional happened to be in the crowd of his clients today, that wouldn’t be much of a problem since most of his strippers wore wigs as well. Looking at the woman who was now applying some glitter on the boy’s rosy slopes of shoulders, it was evident the material she used would be of great quality, his make up artist was just that powerful.

“Hello, Luhan...” he said with the most appeasing tone he’s got, posing his hand on the man’s shoulders as lightly as he could. Although he was pissed by the situation he still couldn’t offer to unsettle Luhan before he went for a show.

Fluttering and wide eyes looked up at him and a small smile bloomed on his delicate face. “Hello” he responded in return with a gentle yet deep voice.

Chanyeol cursed inwardly Sehun, for he really understood why the man was wasting so much time on the little guy. Heck, it couldn’t be said ‘wasting’, he was gifting himself the time with the angel in front of him. From his natural brunet and silky hair, his thin pouty lips, his little button nose, and his peach blossom eyes, it all but created a string of painful and longing passion in the chest of whoever met with them. What’s more, even his flaws were perfections, the little scar just under his bottom lips only adding to the whole face a unique and unbelievably beautiful harmony. The little man was really handsome.

From the day Chanyeol met him he knew the boy was totally worth his friend’s wrecked obsession over him, although he had in mind that the pretty boy could be a nice little bartender who would attract females and even males client with his beauty, now that he saw the result of Luhan dressing up as a women he felt somewhat relieved and even hopeful.

“So, how are you feeling? Not too much pressured? Did Hyunji took good care in showing you what to do?” He then glanced up at the make up artist who nodded her head professionally.

He knew that asking questions one after another was proof of uncertainty and fear, which really well was Chanyeol’s state at the moment.

The pretty man only nodded his head, his fake hair bouncing slightly with the movement whilst the woman who took care of him took the hint that the question needed more development. 

“Vivi helped him take on the basis and he learns pretty fast, plus he‘s already a dancer, he’s pretty flexible”

Chanyeol nodded and cast a glance toward the silent man. There was a studio that he bought just for his dancers some long time ago around the corner of the neighborhood, a mirrored room with poles, he was sure about Vivi’s capacities and knew she was the best to teach beginners.

In the light of the foregoing, he just had a little intuition regarding what would happen: The boy would get in the pole dance, would try to do the things he was quickly taught to do and wouldn’t attract attention, why? No cleavage, no impressive moves, he would just go unnoticed in between the other pole dancers. It was exactly what Chanyeol wanted, for Luhan to go unnoticed in the mid-time Sehun told him what to do with him.

The taller tapped Luhan’s shoulder a last time as encouragement before exiting the dressing room.

“Fuck me, I got my brain screwed with all of their talking! Can’t they just accept from the beginning? They accepted my goddamn deal, in the end, anyway why wasting my time trying to change it?”

“The funny thing though is that they tried to marry you with their daughter, like— Sehun, you could have just said yes, I always thought you would end up with a yakuza’s daughter”

“Yeah and what? y’all still believe I’m into women?”

“I don’t know, you didn’t get laid since 2004”

“First: no. Second: what’s the correlation?”

A moment of silence took place, Tongtongtae not giving more remarks to Sehun as the car they were in took on a halt at a roundabout.

Sehun, Yixing, and Tongtongtae watched the surrounding city from the tainted windows. After their plane back to Korea, leaving behind a settled arrangement with a powerful family, they were back to their land. 

The reason why they had to take all of this path and actually meeting them was because the family’s headmaster, the ‘oyabun’ mister Kyosuke of the Yamatsuba-gumi clan, was still old fashioned, and if they wanted to ask from him a favor they had to at least do the journey and visit them in Takamatsu and discussing in front of a cup of green tea, it was the least one could do. It was about their merchandise: Zhang Yixing used to take care of the traffic, from one country to another, through the help of regular smugglers who knew who to bribe to pass the frontier. However, it sometimes doesn’t work and they would take on great losses in their merch. 

It was key to have good partners to pass the merch in the land you’re trespassing. People with power like yakuza families weren’t the first people one would think of when they want to ensure their traffic since you have to get some affinities with them, but it was an idea that came up to Yixing two years ago. His sister in law’s grandfather was a yakuza and had a vast impact in their county, right in the border in the west side of Japan. Importation and exportation was not a problem for them. It was rather easy for Zhang Yixing to get the man’s approval to help him in exporting some merchandise whether it is drug or arms, in exchange of a percentage beneficial for both. 

Recently, the yakuza had to stop their contract for personal reasons that Yixing respected and understood; especially when the old man presented them one of his yakuza friends who had the same if not more impact in Kansai’s region. 

Sehun, Yixing, and Tongtongtae obliged, passing the first day in the man’s house and slowly introducing the deal through small jokes and anecdotes with the help of Tongtongtae who was the most fluent in Japanese since being one himself. After they settled the deal with the help of Sehun and Yixing, they eventually ended with a nice beneficial one, gaining the man’s trust and making him held a, somewhat, decent esteem for them. They passed a night in one of the man’s gigantic traditional Japanese abode, wearing kimonos and doing some traditional activities that were introduced by the oyuban — which was the yakuza headmaster’s way of hospitality — before they went back to Korea.

“I’m torn and tired man, like all my muscles are numb, even my balls feels numb.”

“You only did a stroll down Osaka, and it was a day ago, why are you complaining” Sehun sounded tired just listening to Tongtontae who was seating in the passenger seat before landing his eyes to Yixing by his side in the backseats. “Tic and Tac called me. Your van of the 6th didn’t come”

Yixing’s tired eyes looked up to the taller man next to him as though being woken up from his daydream, but the man was just thinking about his business. Yixing was wearing a tight-fitting polo and a pair of beige slacks looking like a rich kid going for a round of golf in his private 60 hectares golf’s field. He had styled his jet black hair in a slicked back undercut, clearing the way to see his sculpted face, plump red lips, long straight nose and narrow and long type of doe eyes. The Chinese man had kept his eyes on the window and didn’t turn to Sehun’s direction throughout their whole journey, not even when the latter was annoyingly poking at his side with his finger, small sharp tap to feel Yixing’s muscles every now and then — a way for Sehun to say that he liked his fashion today — until he heard his name being voiced along the keyword ‘van’.

“Which one?” He asked this time his eyes a little less sleepy.

“The one coming from Morocco. The hash.”

“Oh...”

Yixing thought a little about the situation but came to the conclusion that it was only when he got back to his place that he could settle this. Though, he wasn’t that much bothered, merchandise coming a little late was common.

Seeing Yixing's non-response, Sehun concluded for himself that the man would settle it later himself. The former usually did that, didn’t bother to say much or maybe he just forgot to respond but, when unnecessary, he wouldn’t waste energy over saying it. He was a man of few words especially when it comes to business matters. 

Sehun adjusted back his black beanie and sighed as he saw the large traffic sign through his windows that stated that there was only 15 km left to Busan. He buried his hands in his sweatpants pockets and looked straight ahead. Because of this little trip, he missed Luhan’s first representation in Chanyeol’s club. Not only one, but maybe two or three since it was Monday and Luhan began Friday.

The Tall club owner didn’t call him to complain and even didn’t call at all which meant that Luhan didn’t make too much damage. Still, Sehun was a bit disappointed to not be the first one to watch him dance around the pole.

As though on clue with his thoughts, Sehun’s phone — an old red flip phone — was ringing with Chanyeol as ID and he answered the call right away.

After asking how the “meeting with the family in law did go” which was an equivalent to ‘how did the deal go with the yakuza’, Sehun had responded with a joyful “they accepted our wedding” and then drifted to talk about how Sehun’s casino was doing in the hands of the taller. Along with Chanyeol’s deep voice, Sehun could hear numerous yanks, the brouhaha of the population and some baby’s cry; he was probably out in the street.

“So... what do you think of doing with the kid?”

Sehun adjusted his beanie and took a little time to think of a response. He knew Chanyeol was talking about Luhan but if he had to tell the truth, he hadn’t any clue of what to do next. He never really had any clue of what to do, he just moved along the flow of his instinct.

“Like give me a quick answer now, I’m in need of one real quick.”

“Why? He didn’t match your expectations? You wanna get rid of him? Or he made a fool of himself maybe?” 

Sehun knew that asking questions one after another is a give away of uncertainty or anxiety but he never really cared about his body language when he was with Chanyeol since the latter was like a brother to him. 

“In fact...” Chanyeol began to say.

Sehun took on a hint of a smile on his friend’s cheerful voice, squinting his eyes as he tried to decipher the meaning of it or trying to predict what he would say next.

“... I mean if you no longer know what to do with him I’m good with keeping him.” Chanyeol declared before coughing slightly.

The twenty-five-years-old man arched an eyebrow “What, so you’re going to tell me that he matched your expectation and knew how to fucking dance on a pole?” Sehun grinned wider this time. He never thought this would have happened but what he was always sure about is that the boy would keep on surprising him. “Damn I knew it”

“What? You knew that the motherfucker is now the reason why my clients keep on coming, like legit, it’s been three days and I don’t know, he just gets them to keep on coming, I don’t know what sorcery he uses— and he probably used it on you too, but...”

“Oh shut the fuck up, I’m telling you! I knew the boy had some fucked up things going on about him. Like I just felt it!” Sehun now straightened himself in his seat, taking off his beanie to smoother his ruffled bed hair. “When is he going to perform? I wanna see that asap.” 

“I made him perform Friday, seeing that he did it decently and that Mika couldn’t come the Saturday, I let him do, and he was getting better. You know I let him practice with the girls in daytime when he has the time. And Sunday too.”

“Say, you actually let him perform three days in a row, that’s a huge thing.” 

“Yeah, that’s why I’ll let him rest for the tree next following days and— like if you want I can let him perform earlier... hm, Thursday?“ Chanyeol used an ambiguous voice and Sehun could nearly see Chanyeol wriggling his eyebrows playfully. It was fact that they were big kids.

Sehun licked his lips after a seductive laugh escaped his lips, mutual on his friend’s childishness “The sooner, the better.”

“Ok but I don’t get you, like if you wanted to get in his pants why not having done it already instead of all of this. This won’t be a problem with the face you have, motherfucker.” 

“I don’t know... I’m an artist, feel me?” Sehun lied his arm along with the headrest of the seat just right to him, his finger touching Yixing hair mindlessly. “I’m just seeing if he follows my expectation or tries to see if I’m not that observing and he actually surpasses them.”

“Does he?” 

Sehun’s index finger reaching Yixing’s nap, he let it slide slowly down and stoped when a very slight shudder passed through Yixing’s skin. “Does he surpass my expectation? It’s too early to say that.”

“Hey Sehun, you know at first I thought you’ve seen Luhan do something surprising and was curious about him, you know like that kid— you know with the glasses, what was his name again?”

“Kwan” Sehun sighed.

“Kwan! Yeah, Kwan, you saw him steal some money from a little shop and you followed him only to see that it was to buy some grams from a dealer who gets his merch from Yixing.”

“Yeah, the poor thing died the first day I took him under me. Probably one of the few times I did a mistake.”

“Well at first I thought Luhan was the same, you know, he did something funny and you get curious but now I have that feeling that you followed Luhan only because of his looks”

Sehun’s grin widened as he let his arms fall next to his side “Well he’s cute”

“Oh fuck me!” Chanyeol sounded totally done on the other end of the call.

Laughing lightly he detached the flip phone from his ear to look at the little screen, he then whistled “Damn man, we letting ourselves go, it’s almost 20 minutes that we’ve been talking.”

They bid each other goodbye before Sehun took off the flip phone’s back lid and took the SIM to break it in two, opening his window to throw it. Letting the window opened to feel the afternoon breeze on his face, he then took another SIM from his leather jacket breast’s pocket and put it in in the phone. It was probably just paranoia or maybe it already saved his life many times, but he couldn’t afford for the police to hear his conversation about his illicit business and actually have proof that it was him.

“Who’s that?” 

Sehun turned to Yixing who was rolling a pot for himself and, as though he didn’t already know what he meant, he asked “Who?”

“The one you and Chanyeol were talking about... just now.” the Chinese man said after passing his tongue over the paper to roll it properly on itself. 

Sehun followed his every movement with his eyes, “No one really important” He said mindlessly waiting for Yixing to put the joint in between his reddish lips before the taller snatched it and threw it away through the already opened window.


	4. Pétale rouge

4.

Dark grey Ermenegildo Zelda suit. Pale blue button-up. And Dark blue trench-coat. A combination of colors only Sehun could do and pull off.

The tall man looked at himself through the long wall mirror in his room approvingly, passing his hand through his mid-parted dark hair. “We looking like some good motherfucker” he whispered to himself a, seemingly, praise.

It was Thursday already and Sehun couldn’t restrain his excitement, although he was busy with work in the mid-time, he still couldn’t jerk Luhan out of his mind. He knew just how much this obsession over the smaller man could get lethal for him but how could he take control of himself? He knew his curiosity would be the death of him one day.

It was around 7:56 pm and Chanyeol already told him Luhan would perform around eight past thirty. 

Sehun patted his wide shoulders to shake off some inexistent dust and departed from his uptown apartment. 

From his apartment complex to the bar it generally needed a good forty minutes if the traffic jam is put aside, so it means that one would never make it to downtown without passing a good hour in the traffic but with Sehun’s special shortcut, that only a few knew about, he could manage to reach Chanyeol in within thirty minutes.

So in the spam of this very amounts of time, Sehun made his way to the chic institution and was now in front of it.

Today’s weather was pretty rainy, with clouds just above heads and small droplet falling down to spray the world with fresh humidity. Sehun liked it way better than sunny days, and was in his best moods. 

The slender man walked down from his black brand new Aston Martin Vanquish he bought just recently, courtesy of his stuffed wallet, and threw his keys to the Valet who was already getting inside to park it properly in the parking.

Chanyeol’s bar had the advantage of being in a strategic position in the street, it had a whole area for itself, just like Sehun’s casino that was on the other end of the neighborhood, it was about as huge as a three-star bar and had a whole parking-lot for them to park their just as much luxurious cars. His bar wasn’t that big at first, he hadn’t that many clients too — heck his first year was the most frustrating because he was drowned in depths — but with time and the help of Sehun he quickly make it and had to rebuild it into a bigger bar for the number of clients was getting huge.

Sehun crossed path with many people he knew from town, like some usual customers of his own casino, rich kids, businessman, syndicates, lawyer or even a policemen — one of the few Tongtongtae had corrupted and they basically hang out around their business every two weeks if any incident like a sudden bombing from other gangs, they might be of some help but essentially, through their presence, they would dissuade anyone from coming any near, bandits usually don’t come near any law officers. Sehun tilted his head in a slight bow for some of them as he made his way inside. The dim luminosity and the slight purple and red lights coming from the stage lighting put one in the mood instantly, the light hum of brass and melody of the song he heard from outside instantly submerged him as he passed the neon fantasist threshold from which he had to walk down two or three steps.

The bar’s inside was a total courtesy of Chanyeol’s sophisticated style and fashion. It wasn’t even a bar, to begin with, it was in between a cabaret and a bar but a little more about a cabaret. It was arranged with modern pieces of furniture although one can found a small touch of the 90s style in some little items. It remained sober. When entering the bar, the first thing one is met with is the many small round tables and their curved couches, far at the corner was the long front bar and high vintage bar stool. And just in between the couches’ area and the bar was three poles separated equally in the main area — one at the far right, one at the very middle and one at the far left. 

Sehun walked leisurely toward a seat in the left corner where there weren’t that much of people —tonight wasn’t really crowded just the regular businessmen drinking at the bar and about a dozen people sitting across the couches. It was about half crowded, and although it was already a lot, it was nothing compared to Friday’s and Saturday’s nights.

It didn’t take long before Chanyeol came striding toward him, walking in his tight-fitting beige tuxedo.

“Hey, sucker”

“Hey, fucker.”

Chanyeol slouched down on the couch next to him, looking right ahead at his clients while he conversed with him “So... How is my little Sehun doing recently. Didn’t had much of your news since you came back from Japan.”

Along with Chanyeol’s antics, Sehun didn’t look at him but his gaze was on his surrounding. It was a hankering they get for whichever reason.

“I had some shit to deal with you know. Problems with my insurance I had to go through all of my houses’ stuff to found the goddamn sheet they’ve been asking me to bring. You know how it is, there’s many sons of bitches ready to bomb my business any time so it’s better to play it safe”

Chanyeol nodded without responding much. The same moment, the waiter served on their tables two glasses and a bottle of Armand de Brignac Rosé “Should I bring any cocktail that you’d like, sir?” He asked Sehun but the man declined with a slight wave of his hand and the waiter dismissed.

“Tic and Tac told me something funny the other day when I asked them to help me found the paper sheet for the insurance” Sehun dropped his eyes to where Chanyeol was pouring down the beverage into the glasses. A smirk rested on the corner of his mouth as though mocking the next thing he was going to say. “They told me that they think someone is following me, like in everywhere, even my house”

Chanyeol pushed a glass toward his friend and took a gulp from his own, “Nothing new” 

“Yeah but,” Sehun tsk-ed trying to found his words “Like, usually It’s just Shin’s dumbasses; they try to spy on me like they’re in some movies and, like, I catch them before they finish their first hour of spying. But now... I didn’t feel no one following me”

“So how did Tic and Tac know about that if even the man, didn’t notice” Chanyeol accentuating his words to mock his friend’s unbelievable instinct as he served himself another glass, then waiting for Sehun to finish his in one go to pour him some too.

The smaller ignored his friend’s attempt to mocking him and get rid of his trench coat. “They passed by my house and just pointed out that my front door lock has been tampered with and I was so shocked man, usually I don’t miss shit like that, like, I’m getting old or something...”

Chanyeol laughed for Sehun was being a kid again and putting the blame on his having aged when he wasn’t even thirty. 

“Yeah, so... since I couldn’t believe that I missed something like that, they made the conclusion for me: someone broke through my door and eventually they were following me around 'cause there’s not many people who know about this house”

This time Chanyeol turned his head toward him.

“You’re just distracted. Free your head from some problems. That might help you”

“Shut the fuck up” Sehun exasperatedly sighed. Feeling a bit hot inside those wide walls, he undressed from his suit vest and unbuttoned his pale blue dress shirt’s first button. 

Now eyeing his friend’s every motion, it was just then that Chanyeol noticed his attire “Hey, my boy went and got clean on us, look at that suit!” 

Sehun had to smile smugly when Chanyeol tapped his back “Of course, we always have to look like good-looking motherfuckers”

It was just then that Sehun noticed the annoying music that was playing from earlier switched to a less boisterous one. It was with a slow beat although it was still recognized as r&b. Sehun looked around and saw that there was a little more people, it was around 8:30 pm. 

Chanyeol tapped his forearm with his index to catch his attention and he pointed toward a point far at the other side of the bar. As Sehun threw his gaze toward where he pointed, he saw two slender figures coming out of the doors, situated just next to the Dj. He nearly forgot what he actually came for. Catching on the two girls’ view and hearing many whistling, Sehun couldn’t help but look stunned.

“Oh mother” 

Chanyeol laughed heartedly, amused by his friend’s reaction and actually proud to be able to take him back with his pole dancers.

Not any pole dancer, but Luhan. In girl’s clothes.

Luhan was about to direct himself to the pole situated in their right when Chanyeol waved his hand to Vivi, who understood straight his boss and whispered something to Luhan’s ears. The boy nodded his head to Chanyeol's direction and walked to the one at the far Left just right in front of where they sat.

Sehun felt his breath somewhat stuck in his throat when the boy happened to look at him right after he nodded to his boss.

If he ever was to point out something that turned him on, his response would probably be ‘Luhan’. A little glimpse of ‘Luhan’ was all it took now to make him twitch, whether it was for his massive dick or his throbbing heart. 

He just loved how Luhan’s eyes had vaguely given him a glance before walking toward his pole with his high heels, the surely arousing clicking of his heels on the epoxy floor concealed by the beats of the music. Although his heels weren't that high like that of Vivi’s, they were still consequent and the man looked like not having any difficulty to walk with them. Steady walking, straight back, long legs. From the shoes Sehun’s gaze lifted to his long legs, two porcelain-made slender and noble limbs. The man was wearing a tight black short that wrapped his slim bottom in a manner so satisfying but Sehun couldn’t see more for on top of the short was a black leather fringe belt skirt, the many slim straps of leather reaching his mid-thigh just like a regular mini-skirt. Sehun guessed that it wasn’t only for fashion but also to mask Luhan’s shape that could lead to conclude his being a man. Although, really, Luhan’s body needed no masking, it was already frail enough to pass as a well-built woman. 

Luhan’s upper body was dressed with a loose regular shirt, a light red one with sleeves reaching his forearm. Two little globs were sticking out on his chest area and Sehun guessed Chanyeol wanted him to wear a stuffed small size bra. Last but not least, around his slim throat rested a collar, surely to conceal his adorable Adam apple.

Luhan’s heel glad feet had just reached the pole as Sehun now lifted his gaze to the man’s face. He was wearing a wig, no one could easily tell but Sehun guessed that his hair didn’t grow this fast in the time of a week. The wig was a medium-length cut, the thin brown hair —nearly like Luhan’s hair color — were straight and reached just above his shoulders. There were thin strands of hair falling down on his forehead which was looking like a very light bang and was part of the wig. It was smooth and nearly looked like Luhan’s very own.

Sehun admired the man as the latter gazed upon his viewer, all probably gawking like Sehun did, but what the tall man really loved about his gaze, is that Luhan was looking at them like they were mere pigs, he was looking down at them through his thin bang and his doe eyes like he was at the top of a bunch of dogs barking at his splendid self. And to Sehun, at the moment, it was very much how he felt: like a mere dog about to get a hard-on only for the man’s gaze.

As though the pretty small brunet had listened to the song playing a millionth time, he swayed around the pole the next drop of the beat, the sync between his dancing and the song had the consequence of taking his audience back and holding their breath. He embraced the pole and looked at them once more to make sure he had everyone’s attention.

It was all about his being flexible and elegant with his movements.

Although he was frail for a man, he still looked a bit more toned than Vivi. His arms strong enough to support his weight and help him escalate the pole and slowly spin around it like he was floating and it was the easiest thing to do. 

Many males and females, probably already fans, had switched place to seat in the west area in front of Luhan’s pole, whistling, howling and barking when the boy swirled his way down the pole to fall on his vinyl boots clad knees. The boy then sent a hot look to his audience as he bent slowly downward on his forearm and arching his back in a so feline way. 

“That’s some fucked up shit” Sehun laughed dryly not taking his eyes off of the man. Unawarely, he had leaned over, both his elbows on his knees as his inter winded fingers held his chin. This was his position whenever something interesting played in front of him.

It was as if saying that Luhan made it his whole life. 

But then again, the tall man had to remember that the smaller was an actor, a very versatile one as it is. He had already shown his skills to Sehun as he embraced each character he was asked to do. Ask him to act barbaric he would act barbaric, ask him to act innocently he would act innocently, ask him to convince the world that he is a girl although he is otherwise a man and the whole world would believe his feminine demeanor. Ask him to be a whole pole dancer, and what he would do is to blow away all your expectation and turn pole dancing into a whole new art and beauty.

Just a look at Luhan wrapping his hands around the vertical bright clean metallic pole to carry his body up, his body so ethereal as it spun a swift one around it, and then landed on his heels slowly and with grace had Sehun’s body heat up consequently. His dainty arms actually held power as it seemed to carry his own weight without any visible effort.

Pole dance was a form of gymnastics and acrobatics sport, after all, you’ll have to be a minimum sportive to be able to perform a decent stage. All it required him was to give a hot look to his audience, all it needed was his face to distort in a nearly erotic form of a grimace — nearly being the keyword here since Sehun’s mind was working with his lower region and everything he saw him do turned him on even the more— all it required was for Luhan to give an arrogant look and he turned the whole acrobatics and gymnastics moves into a piece of art, a real performance. It was so subtle that it took all of their attention, his audience didn’t want to look away or just look at him unfocused. Sehun even feared to bat his eyelashes a single time or else he could miss a significant yet subtle move of which he would crave to watch again, like a sway of the man’s hips, a brush of his pink tongue over his glossy thin lips or even a little smirk of his lips when he fell down the poll and into a split in the floor.

Luhan was doing most of this: athletics moves and a basic range of dancing and it did it’s thing because he did it gracefully and with charisma, no spreading legs in the air, he just did his choreography with a vibe of nearly humble arrogance. He knew what was more beautiful was not really the choreography on itself although it still held certain importance, but also the attitude, being bold, being charismatic, it was what Luhan chose to play as a character here.

It was all in the subtle and it was exactly what Sehun loved above all. He didn’t see time passing before the song slowed down and Luhan was back to his heels again. He watched the man lift his hand to wrap it around the pole, his face already close to it by little millimeters as he made eye contact with his audience through little strands of hair and half-lidded arrogant eyes. He pulled his lips partially apart and a glistering tongue came to give with its tip a slow but slight lick onto the metallic pole.

“Oh fuck me!” Sehun couldn’t help but breath out in a huffed loud voice, yet it was all but muffled by the howling of the audience, all woken up to loudly bark and yell their admiration to their goddess.

Sehun was so focused he merely heard Chanyeol laugh next to him, saying something along “Oh now I get why he always reminds me of cleaning the poles with bleach and alcohol, man I thought he was thinking we were dirty or something” The beat was more energetic again and Luhan climbed the pole again to reach the middle and with his toned legs squeezing the metallic pole in between them to lift his own weight, he threw his head backward, looking like floating as he managed to spin in this position.

He is a fairy, Sehun thought as he watched the final move, the man swirling his way down and the show finished. 

Before Sehun could assimilate anything more, Luhan gained back his detached demeanor, his eyes looking like having been snatched from the dancing flames that had settled themselves only when he was performing and his face’s expression remained with its usual impassiveness. He nonetheless gave a little bow with his head and quickly walked toward Vivi.

Sehun really loved every bit of the man’s actions. He looked like a born mystery and the tall man couldn’t read through him this easily which only pushed him to try to found more about him and search about what could actually be going on in his pretty head.

The tall man’s lips were met with the glass’ cool material, and as he titled it, his tongue was assaulted with the mature champagne’s rich taste. Crystalline-pearls-like little bubbles popped on his palette, his experienced taste buds recognizing the underlying fruitiness with a touch of ripe pear along with the lingering fragrance he liked to feel and keep on his mouth a little moment longer before he gulped it down altogether. All the while his eyes didn’t leave the pole dancer.

Luhan was already next to Vivi, the two talking about whatever subject together in the dark area next to the Dj’s table. They seemed to be about to get back to their dressing room but Chanyeol might have called them just right then for the next second they nodded and walked toward their direction. 

Sehun’s piercing eyes were on him all this time and he didn’t need to see Luhan giving a little glance toward him or Vivi pulling the male pole dancer a little bit toward her to know that he was eating the boy with his eyes and wasn’t discreet — why would he be? Luhan was looking this good-looking and they wanted him to care about being subtle? 

The tall man’s gaze dropped down to the two pole-dancers hands inter-winded, looking like two little girls being called by their father ‘to say hello’ to their uncle. Sehun hid his widening smirk behind the glass of champagne as he gulped down another shot.

“Hello, mister Sehun!” Vivi was the first to beam through the beats of the song playing in the background, her voice sounding cheerful as she bowed down, Luhan following her without giving a hint of a reaction.

Slowly putting his glass back down, Sehun brushed his finger on the expensive watch that sat on his wrist before he grinned with his usual charming smile, the type of smile that he couldn’t help but spare when he met his beloved. 

Vivi was one of the few women Sehun cared to look at and would even judge her as like his very own daughter. He somewhat was attached to her after the few years they met via Chanyeol and get even more attached because of the apathy he felt when he heard that the poor thing was a victim of anorexia a year ago and hardly get out from it this year. He made a point to always remind her of how much she looked pretty.

“Hi, Little one.” He laughed lightly “Your performance was excellent, told you to not look this stunning, it’s unfair for all these other ladies in this place” 

“Stop flattering me, mister Sehun, I just did my job like usual!” She denied Sehun’s compliment but her puppy eyes still sparkled a little brighter.

“Oh is it a new necklace? A gift from your boyfriend?” Sehun asked rhetorically, his wiggling eyebrows all but teased the beautiful girl with the topic.

And as premeditated, her chubby cheeks turned a little pink as she cupped the gold necklace around her neck. “Hey, we really can’t hide anything from you!”

“He treats you well?”

“Yes”

“Like I told you, if he trespass boundaries: a kick in the ass, ok?”

“Yes, yes”

“And don’t forget, no holding hands before a year and no kiss, even a little smack before the wedding and my blessings, ok?”

This time the small girl slapped lightly her free hand on her forehead, although she wasn’t surprised by Sehun’s extreme care no more “I’m already twenty, and you’re getting more embarrassing than mister Chanyeol”

“I think I should start to worry, then” Sehun laughed and before Chanyeol had the time to snap a half-assed comeback, he was already back to his possessive self “however if he makes you cry, just a single tear, Chanyeol and I would be already here to beat the shit out of him.”

“I told you to not worry...” the small girl —if not for her high heels— sighed exasperatedly.

This time Sehun was serious as he leaned in with his forearm on his knees “You got to feel me, I don’t want such a beautiful princess to be in the hands of any filthy dog.”

Vivi nodded obediently her head, she would be lying if she said that Chanyeol and Sehun’s care for her wasn’t actually pleasant and refreshing aside of being overbearing sometimes. Having lost her parents since twelve years old because of a car accident, she still missed them and would crave for parental figure every once in a while, which really well was what the two tall men gave her. 

“Hum-hum” Vivi cleared her throat exaggeratedly and eyed Sehun then Luhan and vice versa many times before she expressed herself again “So... Sehun, this is Luhan my new colleague. Luhan this is Sehun, my—well, we can say it— my boss, just like Chanyeol”

Sehun restrained himself to grimace but still couldn’t help to have a little rictus in the corner of his lips along with a mocking smile for Vivi’s lack of tact. It was still adorable how the girl knew his preference about liking smaller pretty men and she would look at him with wiggling eyebrows; it was just then that the expression “like father like daughter” made sense. He didn’t know if Vivi knew that Sehun was aware Luhan was a man, but the casino owner didn’t care to ponder about it more as he directed his seductive side smile toward the taller pole dancer, Luhan. “Nice to meet you, Chanyeol already told me about you, Luhan... by the way, Chinese?”

“Yes, I’m Chinese. Nice to meet you” 

The young man dressed in girl’s cloth had expressed himself in a well-mannered tone, bowing down too. He didn’t even try to hide his deeper-than-average-female voice and just talked casually, it was somewhat better for his voice was soothing to the ear and to the soul.

Sehun didn’t know if he should feel flattered for the young man didn’t seem this detached like he did when looking to other people, his round doe eyes somewhat shined with something interesting. But then again, Sehun was like an influential client here, and at best could be called Chanyeol’s acolyte, the crossdressed man should feel pressured about this and thus why he saw him like an important person here.

Sehun waved his hand to usher the man to not bow “You don’t need to, threat me just like you treat Chanyeol”

This time Luhan had a little smile whilst Vivi laughed: “Luhan bows to Chanyeol every time too, so...”

The casino owner snapped his head toward his friend “Aye, you dog, are you this low to ask them all to bow in front of you every time you breathe? Is it your fetish? Do you feel the need to be called master too?”

Chanyeol this time had to defend himself “Hey, I just thought she‘d stop all on her own like Vivi,” He pointed an accusing finger to an innocent-looking Vivi. “This disrespectful kid doesn’t even greet me the morning anymore! Anyways, shoo away, I don’t want my authority to be tainted” 

Chanyeol was done with his friend and employees. The other three laughed lightly, exchanging a knowing glance and whilst he smiled mockingly, Sehun even took it as an opportunity to send a wink to Luhan. A safe little wink that can be taken just as a friendly one, can be related to their mocking Chanyeol, and in the same time can be somewhat suggestive. All depended on the one who received the wink. 

And Luhan didn’t disappoint him as he sent back a wink giving a side look to a frowning Chanyeol, smiling lightly behind his pretty hand before the two pole-dancers dismissed.

“Not even trying to be obvious in the first meeting?” Chanyeol asked when the two had disappeared behind the door of their dressing room, not looking to Sehun’s direction, just watching the clients around. He was used to Sehun flirting with any beauty they were met with, and he had already noticed just how much skilled this man was in smooth talking, how he could get the opposite individual head over heels with few little lines. Here Sehun surprised him with not even trying to be a little flirtatious.

“I told you, I’d love to do him but I still wanna know what he got stored in his sleeves for me. I just wanna watch for now.” Sehun sighed as he leaned back on the couch and lied his arms along the back cushion’s top. 

He still wanted to test some little things about him with the help of Chanyeol.

Lol yes, I turned Vivi into a female and a human.

So this chap is only a little 'tease', I'll update another scene where Luhan is going to be a little bit more daring...


End file.
